Borders, boundaries, horizons and Quemoy in an asymmetric world

Abstract

The diversity of borderland realities makes the necessity of general conceptualization particularly challenging. An interrelated conceptual triad is proposed and then applied to the experience of Quemoy Island (金门, Kinmen, Jinmen) from 1895 to the present. All borderlands are places in which contact is shaped by a standing and distinctive disparity, and the boundaries that both define and split the area create the rules of border gaming and the larger contingencies influencing border identities. Whether a village, a region, or a state is treated as a borderland – in other words, the horizons of focus – is determined by the analyst but on the basis of the realities of venue and governance. In Quemoy and most other border situations, asymmetries of power, resources, and capabilities provide an uneven ground for interactions and therefore shape the realities and perceptions of contact.

Keywords:

• borderlands
• Quemoy
• boundaries
• horizons
• asymmetries

Notes

1. The terms “thesis, antithesis, synthesis” are often misattributed to Hegel, but in fact he never used the terms, although Fichte, his predecessor at University of Berlin, did. Nevertheless, Hegel’s whole philosophical system is structured in triads of moments which are aggregated into ever larger triads. The first moment expresses the positive essence of an idea, the second expresses its limitations, which can be its practical expressions. The third expresses the underlying harmony of its essence and definition. See G.W.F. Hegel, Enzyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften, 3^rd edn., passim.

2. “Larger” and “smaller” should be understood in terms of the relevant disparity of capabilities.